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MMAmania.com is reporting that a welterweight fight between Pete Sell and Josh Burkman is going to take place at UFC 90. Josh Burkman has had a rough time in the UFC against top flight competition, coming off of a recent loss to Dustin Hazelett. Pete Sell likewise lost in his last fight against Nate Quarry. Pete Sell will be dropping down from middleweight to welterweight and should be a big welterweight as is Burkman. Both fighter really need to pull out a win here.

TUF 1 saved the UFC. Dana White acknowledges that the finale fight of Bonnar vs. Griffin was a defining UFC moment, perhaps that is why Griffin is getting a title shot. In this season you have 2 or 3 guys that could hold a title eventually. Kenny Florian is looking dominant. Diego and Josh both are doing well as is Mike Swick in the welterweight divison. Chris Leben may never win a title, but he is winning a lot.

The comeback season was a success. Travis Lutter lost to Anderson Silva, but still looked good. We will see how he does against Rich Franklin. We all know of Matt Serra winning against St. Pierre. Clementi, Cote and Lytle all have looked good lately. This season has a lot of names that UFC fans know.

Not a bad season, but disappointing as far as how these guys have done after the show. Bisping has done fair and dropped to middleweight and we will see how he does there. Matt Hamill may be the success story of this show. Kendall Grove has fallen hard. Ed Herman can rise some if he keeps winning.

This show was the weakest of all. We will see the effects of it. In two years there may be two or three guys in the UFC from TUF 6. Mac Danzig was so much better than everyone else on this season. George can be decent and do well in the UFC. Tommy Speer is so raw. Matt Arroyo has good skills, but we will see. Guys like Koppenhaver and Rollins have earned some time in the UFC, but I doubt it will last. Watch for Mac though to climb the lightweight ranks.

There is a lot of talk about which UFC divison is the stongest. I have discussed my opinion before, but I was curious which divison has been best bolstered by TUF. Below I listed each current UFC fighter and their current divison. Some guys have fought in the UFC and left for other organizations so I did not include them. Some guys have fought at one weight and dropped down recently like Michael Bisping. I made my decison based not solely on numer of fighters, but quality fighters and number of contenders in the divison from TUF. Here is my evaluation…

The least bolstered is the Heavyweight divison, because there are no current UFC TUF alumni in that divison. Evans and Jardine comepeted in Heavyweight and then dropped to lightheavyweight.

The fourth most bolstered is the middleweight divison. There are 11 TUF alums in the middleweight divison currently and none are real contenders right now. You have a bunch of second tier guys in: Travis Lutter, Ed Herman, Kendall Grove, Nate Quarry and Patrick Cote. Some of those guys are close to breaking through to contender levels. I would say your most succesful guy has been Chris Leben and I believe Michael Bisping will be a contender, but contender is a tough word in a divison where Anderson Silva owns the belt. I don’t think these guys could beat the top 4 or 5 in that divison.

The third best divison is the lightheavyweight divison. However, these five guys are all above average guys. I consider three of them legit contenders in the divison (Griffin, Jardine and Evans) and I consider Bonnar and Hamill the best of the second tier guys. Bonnar and Hamill are slated to fight in April, the winner will become a serious contender threat and break into the top 12 in that divison. I put them below the others sheerly because they don’t have as many alums in the divison now.

To be honest the second and first was a toss up between the welterweight and lightweight divisons who have both benefited from TUF competitors dropping to their weight classes. Here are my arguments for both. The welterweight divison has a champ in Matt Serra. Also one could argue that they have 2 other top five fighters in Koscheck and Sanchez, making TUF alums 3 of the top five in that divison. If you throw Marcus Davis, who is a serious contender is the mix you have some good fighters, not to mention guys like Mike Swick who have just dropped down. The jury is still out on the TUF 6 guys. We will have to wait and see who will stick around the welterweigh divison. I look for Speer, Sotiropplous, and Arroyo to make a little splash.

The lightweight divison has the most TUF alums by far. Obviously, Joe Stevenson has been the most successful and could get a title shot. They also have another top five guy in their divison in Kenny Florian. Joe Lauzon is set to fight Kenny and could move into seriosu contention if he pulls out a win. I wouldn’t overlook guys like Mac Danzig, Nate Diaz, Cole Miller, Manny Gamburyan or Gray Maynard. Din Thomas has proven himself well and Rich Clementi and Jorge Gurgel are no scrubs.

If you made me pick the most benefited from TUF I would say the lightweights, with the welterweights close behind. It is kind of interesting to note that in 2008 at least 3 guys from TUF will get a title crack (Serra, Stevenson, and Griffin) and possibly more.

TUF will continue to have an impact on the UFC for the good. They hope to help out the middleweight divison, but likely good welterweights will bulk up to get on the show and the best of the next season will help the welterweight divison most. In my opinion, they need to help out the middleweight, but in order to do so the show has to feature light heavyweights. I look forward to see the new twists and turns of TUF 7, and to see the impact of the future TUF alumni on the UFC. Ultimate Fighter has been Dana White’s best move and he admits is helped the UFC greatly.

I expect to see new title holders in every division but one and that is the middleweight. All though Anderson could be challenged by Dan Henderson. My picks for the title holders: Nogueira, Not sure about lightheavyweight, Anderson Silva, St. Pierre, and B.J. Penn.

I expect to see a few more fighters signed to UFC contracts. Highlighting the list: Matt Lindland, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields, and some other big name surprise

I expect TUF to be a disappointment with Rampage Jackson getting a lot of camera time saying his crazy off the wall things

I expect the middleweight division to get tougher

I expect a few UFC stars to retire (Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin)

I expect Sean Sherk to get another title shot, but B.J. Penn to beat him badly

I expect the light heavyweight division to get crazier with guys like Machdia, Thiago Silva, Rashad Evans, and Shogun in the title mix.

I expect Chuck Liddell to avenge his loss to Keith Jardine by summer

I expect that Shogun is still only one fight away from a title shot, I think that my top ten in the lightheavyweight at the top ten at light heavyweight, perhaps not in that order.

I expect Dan Henderson to try Anderson Silva like he hasn’t been tried in a while

I expect Jon Fitch, Kenny Florian, Sean Sherk, Roger Huerta, Matt Lindland, and either Arlovski or Cro Cop to get a title shot.

I expect the former PRIDE guys to turn it around in the octagon

I expect another solid fight from Wanderlai Silva, can you say rematch?

I expect the Fedor vs. Randy fight to happen

I expect other organizations to become more of a competition to the UFC

I expect Dana White to say many more expletives on national television

Where do fighters rank in the UFC? I’ve seen all sorts of thoughts on rankings, so I will chime in and give my rankings, which of course are the best and most accurate. I am using a few guidelines.

This is strictly UFC, not including fighters not yet signed in UFC from Pride. For example, Fedor would be on or near the top of the Heavyweight rankings, but he is yet to sign so he is not included

This is based not on popularity or even record, but purely on who I perceive to be the best fighters

I am putting the title holders at number one in each weight class, even though they might not be the best in that class, for example, I would not have Matt Serra as the best fighter in his class, but he is the belt holder.

Some fighters are rising quickly and others are falling quickly (i.e. Tito and Cro Cop)

HEAVYWEIGHTS

1. Randy “The Natural” Couture

2. Andrei “The Pitbull” Arlovski

3. Gabriel Gonzaga

4. Cheick Kongo

5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

6. Tim Sylvia

7. Mirko “Cro Cop”

8. Brandon Vera

9. Frank Mir

10. Jeff Monson

11. Heath Herring

12. Fabricio Werdum

13. Assuerio Silva

(Note: Fedor, Josh Barnett, and even Aleksander Emelianko may have made the list had they signed. )

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS

1. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

3. Dan Henderson

4. Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell

5. Wandelai Silva

6. Rashad Evans

7. Houston Alexander

8. Tito Ortiz

9. Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine

10. Forrest Griffin

11. Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira

12. Matt “The Hammer” Hamill

13. Micael Bisping

14. Ryoto Machida

15. Jason Lambert

16. Stephan Bonnar

17. Renato “Babalu” Sorbal

18. Wilson Gouveia

19. Marvin Eastman

(Note: I put Hamill above Bisping because I believe he beat Bisping in their fight. Even though Bisping got the win, Hammil looked better.)

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

1. Anderson Silva

2. Rich Franklin

3. Yushim Okami

4. Terry Martin

5. Nate Marquardt

6. Dan Henderson

7. Jason MacDonald

8. Patrick Cote

9. Kalib Starnes

10. Chris Leben

11. Martin Kampmann

12. Thales Leites

13. Ivan Salaverry

14. Nate “Rock” Quarry

15. Evan Tanner

16. Kendall Grove

17. Ed Herman

18. Travis Lutter

19. Dean Lister

20. Alessio Sakara

WELTERWEIGHT:

1. Matt Serra

2. Georges St. Pierre

3. Matt Hughes

4. Diego Sanchez

5. Karo Parisyan

6. Josh Koschek

7. Jon Fitch

8. B.J. Penn

9. Marcus Davis

10. Mike Swick

11. Thiago Alves

12. Josh Burkman

13. Luigi Fioravanti

14. Nick Diaz

15. Chris Lytle

16. Edilberto “Crocota” de Oliveira

17. Jonathan Goulet

LIGHTWEIGHT:

1. Sean Sherk

2. B.J. Penn

3. Joe “Daddy” Stevenson

4. Roger Huerta

5. Kenny Florian

6. Hermes Franca

7. Nick Diaz

8. Joe Lauzon

9. Din Thomas

10. Marcus Davis

11. Clay Guida

12. Spencer Fisher

13. Frank Edgar

14. Melvin Guillard

15. Drew Fickett

16. Kurt Pellegrino

17. Terry Etim

18. Tyson Griffin

19. Marcus Aurelio

20. Sam Stout

21. Tiago Tavares

22. Nate Diaz

(Note: I listed to 22 because there are so many quality fighters and the last 12-15 of these guys are not far from one another in ranking, Some rankings have my number 19 Marcus Aurelio much higher, but come on, whose he gonna bump down?)

Let the disputing begin. I’d love to hear comments. Perhaps I left someone off included someone I shouldn’t have. Perhaps I have someone overrated or another underrated. Let me know what you think.